May 18 Saturday
What's the perfect activity to do after a week full of biking? Come stretch those quads and hamstrings! Restore your body and feel refreshed with a special yoga session specifically for cyclists hosted at Sanctuary Yoga Studio from 12:00pm to 1:00pm. Sanctuary is located on the third floor of Thornes Marketplace in downtown Northampton. Please RSVP (https://www.yoga-sanctuary.com/special-programming/bike-to-work) if you plan to attend the class.
Lisa Gutkin (fiddle), Peter Rushefsky (tsimbl) and Rachel Leader (fiddle) will play a concert of klezmer music.Lisa is a fiddle player with the Klezmatics. Pete has played with many internationally with many of the Jewish music leading performers and is the executive director of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance. Rachel is a fiddle player with Mamaliga and Burikes and A Glezele Tey and teaches klezmer music locally.
In “Recycled Art/Art Recycled” the members of the Canton Artists’ Guild imaginatively explore diverse aspects of the meaning of recycling. Some have made art from recycled materials or created art that reflects the idea of recycling. Other artists have taken a previous piece of work and transformed it into something entirely new. Come see these intriguing takes on recycling in prints, drawings, paintings, photographs, sculptures, ceramics, collages and fiber art. In upstairs galleries are two solo shows. “Mind & Nature” features drawings and paintings in which Harriet Caldwell explores the functioning of the human and animal mind. The incredibly intelligent ravens are a particular focus. Caldwell has a BFA from Hartford Art School, University of Hartford, where she taught for 18 years. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in many states. She has received multiple awards for her work, including a 2012 Fellowship from the Connecticut Office of the Arts, a 1996 Painting Fellowship from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, a grant from the Puffin Foundation and a Millay Resident Fellowship. Caldwell’s work has been included in “Tu non uccidere” [Thou Shall Not Kill] published in Bologna, Italy (2008) and in Poetica Magazine, Holocaust Edition (2014). “Pandora’s Box” series, the second solo show, features abstract and whimsical sculpture of Stephen Klema. Klema describes these as an exploration of “the processes of accretion and loss—one desire to contain against the other desire to expand; the polarization of forces echoing the constant push and pull from order to chaos and back again.” His sculpture is fabricated using abutting, overlapping and interlocking stained and painted elements intricately assembled to yield a coherent and evocative work. Klema received his MFA from the Hartford Art School, and his BFA from the Atlanta College of Art. He is a highly accomplished artist who has had indoor and outdoor sculpture in juried exhibits across the nation, with permanent installations in New York, Ohio, Connecticut and New Hampshire. Within our region Klema’s indoor sculptures have been shown at the Becket Arts Center, Five Points Gallery, Silvermine Galleries, the Mattatuck Museum, Farmington Valley Arts Center, Limner Gallery, Kehler Liddell Gallery, and Real Art Ways. An opening reception is on Saturday, April 20 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. The public is warmly invited to attend this free reception.
Cyndee Fand, Wire Wrapping Workshop, $35/person registration fee plus $15 materials fee payable to instructor day of. In this workshop, you will wrap stones about 2" in diameter to make a pendant. Bring your own stone if you have a favorite! You will go home with a finished pendant.
Young crafters, makers, cooks, and creatives are invited to vend their handmade wares on Saturday, May 18, 2024, 2-5pm, at BOMBYX Center for Arts & Equity. Area arts businesses will round out the afternoon Kids Makers Mart on-site, and up the street at the Florence Civic Center a consecutive craft experience—Yet Another Queer Pop-Up Market—will be underway
Alongside kid vendors will be local arts businesses:
High Five Books, reading with families throughout the day and vending books and creative supplies.Art Always, selling ART TO GO kits and hosting a free Craft Bar where families can choose supplies to create with at home. Little Roots, offering a “Peaceful Percussion” Instrument Petting Zoo.Resilient Community Arts, hosting a tote bag-decorating table. Wake the Dead Donuts vending their hot, fresh mini donuts.
Shoppers are also encouraged to visit the second Yet Another Queer Pop-Up Market at the Florence Civic Center, just up Pine Street from BOMBYX, to round out a craft-tastic day for families and craft supporters. Yet Another Queer Pop-Up Market, proudly sponsored by Colorful Resilience, Bloom Local and several other local community businesses, will feature over 60 BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ makers, rain or shine, from 9am-5pm. Resilient Community Arts will be on-hand hosting a bandana/handkerchief tie-dye station. In addition there will be Florence food purveyors Ginger Love Cafe, and The Zen Frog with treats from Lemon Bakery.
Collage & Assemblage: Past & PresentJoin artist Joan Hall for an illustrated lecture on the history of collage from 12th century Japan to contemporary photo illustration. Learn how artists recycled everyday items into artwork using such materials as money, spare tires, and even their own blood. This presentation promises to be both educational and entertaining. Hall’s work is featured in the current exhibition Mystery and Wonder: Highlights from the Illustration Collection.
If you plan to visit the galleries, please plan to arrive at least 1 hour prior to the start of the lecture. Please note: museum admission is separate from the lecture.
Mehrnam Rastegari is a prominent Persian musician, film score composer, singer, violinist, and master Kamancheh player. She has been featured in some of the most prestigious music festivals worldwide, including GlobalFest in NYC, USA, Secret Planet in NYC, USA, Fajr International Music Festival in Tehran, Iran, the WOMEX (World Music Expo) in Tampere, Finland, Ragas Live Festival in NYC, USA, the International Competition named after Tlep Aspantaiuly in Astana, Kazakhstan, and numerous concerts across The United States, Germany, Switzerland, France, Iran, and more.
The Brooklyn based Mediterranean trio Habbina Habbina connects Brooklyn indie to Middle-Eastern psychedelia and Guitar twang mastery. Habbina Habbina plays what could be described as Mediterranean surf, with a surfing style that owes much to the Middle Eastern side of Dick Dale, or the Western side of Omar Khorshid. Habbina Habbina, named after a beloved song by syrian singer Farid El-Atrache, takes its inspiration from Egyptian pop, Greek tunes as well as all sorts of retro-Mediterranean-hits, James Bond Soundtracks, Umm Kulthum, Aris San and many more.
The Bandwagon Summer Series is a family-friendly outdoor cultural performance series running from early May through mid-October. 20 performances ranging from a diverse group of musical styles, circus arts, dance, and theater will take place at ballfields, farms, and parks throughout Windham County. Kids under 12 always get in for free, and a dedicated play area will be available at all shows. Refreshments are sold onsite, including the return of the hugely popular Barr Hill cocktails. Bring a picnic and a blanket or fold-up chair to enjoy our concerts.
The Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra returns to Bombyx for their final performance of the season. Their program consists of new arrangements by Artistic Director Joseph Ricker of music by J.S Bach, Enrique Granados, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Masato Nakamura's scores from Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, a grand orchestral take of the Beatles Dear Prudence and the premier of an original work, Promonade, inspired by the layered guitars of The Cure and the vocal Harmonies of Crosby Stills Nash and Young. The HVGO will be joined in this concert by the dynamic drum phenomenon Eliezer Martinez.
Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra is the finest in avant-garde community music — an unruly mob of all types of guitars and players. Our program consists of new arrangements by Artistic Director Joseph Ricker of music by J.S Bach, Enrique Granados, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Masato Nakamura's scores from Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, our grand orchestral take of the Beatles Dear Prudence and the premier of an original work, Promonade, inspired by the layered guitars of The Cure and the vocal harmonies of Crosby Stills Nash and Young. The HVGO will be joined in these concerts by the dynamic drum phenomenon Eliezer Martinez.
Fiddler & Folksinger Emerald Rae brings the duo of strings and song to a new plateau with mesmerizing dexterity. Hailing from the historic fishing community of Gloucester, Massachusetts, Emerald Rae is both a small-town girl steeped in cherished folk traditions and a world-class artist breaking new ground with inventive fiddle effects. A degree in Film Scoring from Berklee College of Music in Boston gave her the freedom to cast a wide creative net, while her grit and intensity was earned during her twenty-year career as a powerhouse fiddler and dancer. Rae embarked on her first journey into songwriting and multi- instrumentalism with If Only I Could Fly [May 2013], featuring her prowess on fiddle, vocals, guitar and the crwth [an ancient Welsh fiddle, pronounced “krooth”], and took to the road from the Canadian Maritimes to Shanghai. Single and video Blackbird [April 2017], a droning, groove-heavy version of the traditional Scottish Ballad, showcases her signature ornamented vocals and robust fiddling accompanied by a laid back djembe.
Zeroing in on the synergy of voice and fiddle, the self-produced self-titled album Emerald Rae [May 2018] offers a rare scope of vision and reveals her depth as an artist. Rae’s extraordinary chops transform the fiddle into anything from bagpipes to flamenco or electric guitar, slap bass or ukulele. Her direct and intimate voice, alternately high and honeyed then gutsy and soulful, encompasses both wind and sea, animal and etheric. Though intended as a minimalist introspective album, Rae pulls of an impressive level of variety. Her take on a sea shanty, “Deep Salt Sea” kicks off the record with edgy soundscapes, “When the Silvery Moon Comes Out to Play” drives with angsty power chords, “Inkwell” paints an intimate portrait of an awkward bookworm, and “Worlds Away” shouts from the rooftops about income inequality with foot percussion and a wailing old- timey fiddle. This collection of homespun vignettes will take you on a journey and leave you spellbound.